Sunday, August 3, 2008

I can’t believe it’s August already, and I haven’t smoked any meat until now. Lately Vesna has been into Jamaican cooking, so we rubbed a beef brisket with allspice, thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, Scotch Bonnet, onion and such, and I put it on the smoker. The smoker is made from 2 large clay flower pots, a grill, a steel pie pan, and some rocks. I use a digital thermometer to keep track of the temperature. Good hardwood charcoal is pretty easy to find these days, so I rarely have to dip into my hickory stock.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

I haven't posted in a good, long time. What can I say? It was a long cold winter, and for the length of it I wished I could leave the covers over my head in my soft bed. Some time along the winter months I discovered the Rhapsody music service, and every day has been filled with all of the music that I feared was forgotten, plus all of the new and exciting music that I would never have heard otherwise.

Rhapsody is a subscription music service. For a monthly fee, you get to listen to your choice of about 3 million songs. In the few months that I've had Rhapsody, I've listened to hundreds of songs that I don't own. I would never have been able to afford to listen to all this music if I had to buy the tracks in Itunes.

Radio has been dead for me for a long time. When I was a young man in the '80's, I would go to New Jersey and work as a roofer for my grandfather, where I would enjoy the great music that came out of New York's radio stations. You just never wanted to turn off your radio.

I think the last great song I heard on the radio was "Resignation Superman" by Big Head Todd and the Monsters. It's hard to find new music. I don't know how I found Lemon Jelly, but I really like them.

I don't think that I could live without music. Dark times without music are dark indeed. If there is a song to match my mood, then gloom can't envelop my soul.